Economic analysis of poverty among cashew nut marketers in Ogbomoso north local government area of Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria was ranked the second largest producer of cashew after Vietnam. Ogbomoso North Local Government, Oyo State has a thriving domestic cashew nut trade but despite this, cashew nut marketers face pervasive income poverty, necessitating an in-depth investigation into the root causes. This study therefore focused on the economic analysis of poverty among cashew nut marketers in Ogbomosho north local government area of Oyo state, Nigeria. Primary data were collected and descriptive statistics, Gross Margin Analysis, Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR), Two-Third of the Mean Per Capital Household Expenditure approach as well as Logistic regression analysis were employed to analyze the data collected. The result revealed that majority of the cashew nut marketers (48.50%) were between the age range of 36 and 50 years, 43.40 percent of them had secondary school education and 40.40 percent had 11-20 years of cashew nut marketing experience. The result further showed that cashew nut marketing is profitable in the study area with the average total revenue, average gross margin, average profit and BCR of ₦61,022,881.31; ₦7,421,099.545; ₦6,495,495.505 and 1.12. Also, total fixed cost and age of the respondents significantly influenced their poverty status while poor marketing information, finance constraints, transportation issues, storage difficulties, and seasonality of the supply/demand among others were also identified as prevalent concerns of cashew nut marketing in the study area. The study therefore recommended cost reduction strategies, proper drying of the cashew nuts, government intervention in market price stabilization, and financial support for the cashew nut marketers.